


Dance In Our Round

by tsukara (AndThenTheresAnne)



Category: October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-20 08:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17019696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndThenTheresAnne/pseuds/tsukara
Summary: Toby has always been a fan of keeping her promises. Even better when keeping those promises mean a day of rest and relaxation for the lot of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Geekhyena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geekhyena/gifts).



> This takes place between _The Winter Long_ and _A Red-Rose Chain_.

_If you will patiently dance in our round  
And see our moonlight revels, go with us;_   
\- William Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_

Toby wasn’t sure wasn’t sure whether offering Elliot to take the kids to a theme park when everything had calmed down sufficiently was a promise or a threat. Sure, it would give the kids some quality time with each other when there was no threat of death, dismemberment or disgrace hanging over their collective heads. On the other hand, theme parks were inherently human places, with all the issues that came with that. 

The advantage of doing this during the winter, at the very least, especially after Christmas, was that the park was nice and dark, and fairly empty as well. The others could all handle their own disguises, and Chelsea had passed for human for so many years without sufficient control of her magic that that wasn’t an issue. As long as Chelsea remembered to secure her glasses while on the coasters, things would be fine. 

Still, Elliot’s misgivings had been eased by the promise of several chaperones, Bridget herself included, even if Toby’s presence generally promised more trouble than most things were worth. 

In the end, thanks to schedules working out, last minute invitations, and May volunteering herself, they ended up as a small crowd. Jazz had laughed when invited, and pointed out that roller coasters were kind of boring, if you could fly; she’d work and then be at home when everyone arrived back.

Half of the kids squished into Toby’s VW, the others in Stacy’s car, driven by Cassandra. She was on winter break from school, at the moment, as were Karen and Chelsea, so it had all worked out.

Toby looked through her rear-view mirror at Chelsea and Quentin, comfortable in the back seat without a third passenger to squish them. They each had their headphones in, but were, apparently, texting each other and sharing videos. Toby hadn’t pretended to understand it, but left them to it. 

Bridget, it turned out, when she wasn’t trying to keep faerie far away, was pretty good company, chatting with Toby about the weather, the traffic, and the latest developments in her area of study. Given that her area of study was the strange things humans thought about the fae, Toby was always amused. “I guess what I don’t understand,” Toby said as the traffic moved along at its usual Bay Area pace. “Is how a field of study that old has ‘new’ things in it.”

Bridget gave a half shrug. “Mostly it’s people coming up with new and interesting ways to interpret the texts that we already have,” she explained. “Though every once in a while something comes completely out of left field. Like that council representative in Ireland who thinks that faeries are behind the dip in the local road.”

Toby snorted, amused. “He sounds like the local ‘dip’ in the area.” Bridget laughed as well. 

Traffic wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Humans, for the most part, were all at their own celebrations with families. Yule had fallen just before Christmas, meaning that period between Christmas and New Year’s was the perfect time to go out. They were just pulling into the parking lot when she saw the others standing around Stacy’s car, having already parked. 

Once they were parked as well, Quentin dropped the Don’t-Look-Here on the car. Toby wove a human disguise for herself as Quentin did the same. Chelsea was wearing a new pair of glasses with a glamour that softened her eyes to a human brown and a beanie topped with a pompom in lieu of a disguise. Walther had helped with the glasses, and they seemed to work pretty well.

Toby eyed Cassie curiously as they approached. “You weren’t taking driving advice from May, were you?”

Cassandra rolled her eyes and May laughed. “Nah,” May answered, “Not a single bit of it.”

“Good. Keep it that way,” Toby advised.

As a group, the all began to walk to the entrance, a motley collection of adults and teenagers, joining the short line at the gate. Thanks to the power of the internet all of their tickets were pre-purchased, May having been in charge of that. By some mechanism Toby didn’t really understand, May had shown the gate attendant her cell phone, and the group of them had been ushered into the theme park. 

It was colorfully lit for the season, even though Christmas had been several days before, and everything was festive. Toby looked at the map she had picked up. “So where are we starting then?”

Quentin, Raj, and Chelsea all exchanged a look then chorused “roller coasters” in unison, before taking off together. May followed close behind, Cassandra and Karen in tow.

Toby followed, noting that the one they were headed for was, of course, the tallest, most intense one that the park offered. “Not starting small huh?”

Chelsea’s merry laugh floated back. Bridget and Toby followed at a much more sedate pace. Bridget was smiling fondly, Toby noticed. It wasn’t hard to figure out why either. “She’s a good kid.”

Bridget hummed agreement. “It’s just so nice to see her happy.”

It was true for all of them, Toby mused. All these kids deserved a break, and they were finally getting the chance for one. By the time she and Bridget caught up, the kids (plus May) had reached the front of the line. As a group they took up almost an entire car on their own. Chelsea, next to Raj, was chattering away excitedly, while May said something apparently reassuring to Quentin.

May spotted Toby and Bridget, waving at them, Quentin following her lead after a moment. . “Lord love them,” Bridget indulgently waved back. With a start, the train started into the first tunnel before the climb, the happy shrieks of its passengers already beginning. “I’m going to find the restroom,” Bridget took off, still waving. “Some of them might need it, after.”

Toby let her go, turning her attention back to the kids. The tracks lead the train out into the trees, rattling and corkscrewing, trailing screams. Toby had to remind herself to read those as enjoyment, not terror. 

“I bet Quentin’s gonna lose his lunch, poor kid.” It was not Bridget’s voice, right next to her.

Toby whirled around, agog. “Luidaeg!”

“In the too, too solid.” The Luidaeg leaned on the safety fence, watching the roller coaster car careen through its pattern. She looked normal enough, a peacoat and beanie added against the chill that the setting sun promised. 

Toby frowned, glancing around. “Uh, is there something I should know?”

The Luidaeg smirked back at her. “Always, but nothing’s going on right now that concerns you, to answer what you’re really asking.”

That wasn’t totally reassuring, but the Luidaeg couldn’t lie, Toby know, so she shrugged and let it go. “So you’re just here to take in the pretty, pretty lights and carols?”

Another snort of laughter. “No, I’m here to go on roller coasters and watch the kids have a good time.” 

Speaking of the kids--and May--the train car for the roller coaster pulled into the unloading zone, its passengers whooping and laughing. Bridget’s timing was impeccable, as she returned right as the group was disembarking. She looked curiously at the Luidaeg, but now the group was approaching en masse. Chelsea and May looked exhilarated, Cass and Karen both a bit winded, and Raj? Raj looked vaguely reminiscent of a cat that had taken an accidental ride in a tumble dryer,. Quentin, just behind him, was vacillating between delight at the ride and concern for his friend. Raj, of course, was trying to play it off in best cat fashion though, and Quentin had spotted Toby and the Luidaeg standing there. “Hey!”

He ran to the Luidaeg and she gave him a fond hug, ruffling his hair. “Hey there, kiddo. Enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah! That was great!” 

The rest of the group caught up with them then, the Luidaeg letting Quentin go and turning to them with a smile. “Hey. I’m Toby’s aunt, Annie.” 

The reactions ran the gamut from amiable greetings to May, looking just as bemused as Toby had just moments before. No one seemed inclined to question her overmuch about this, each for their various reasons. 

“So what’s next?” May asked, looking around the group. “Another roller coaster?”

With a glance at Raj that he didn’t notice because he was still a little too shaken, Quentin shrugged. “I was thinking of getting some cocoa or something first.”

About half the group seemed to agree to this, so they began walking toward both the next coaster and one of the food stands that dotted the park. “So where’s your kitty cat?” The Luidaeg asked Toby idly as they walked.

As she did whenever someone mentioned him these days, Toby’s lips quirked into a smile. “Tybalt’s with his court today. He’ll be coming by the house later in the evening.”

They had just begun to try and work out this whole ‘courting’ business, and so far it had been going pretty well. Him spending time like this at court, when Toby would have liked him there, but didn’t need him, allowed him to spend more time with her later on.

Once Raj had some hot chocolate in him and was looking better, he began to insist that they go on another roller coaster. Clearly he felt he needed to prove that he could handle the thrill ride, though who he felt he needed to prove that to was unclear--just like with any other cat. Others weren’t feeling so up to it yet though, so the group split up. They all had cell phones after all, and if they worked in the Summerlands, they would definitely work here.

In the end, no one actually lost their lunches, though part of that was probably due to the fact that, eventually, everyone was kind of done with the roller coasters. Night had set in, and the temperature was getting a little chillier. More cocoa was had, and there began to be talk of going on to the second part of the evening, especially now that everyone was properly awake.

“You coming with us?” Toby asked the Luidaeg. 

She smiled back, finishing the cup of cocoa she held. “No, I’ve got my own ride.” She said goodbye to Quentin and, with a wave, walked away. Though Toby thought it was odd she was going towards the closed-for-the-season waterpark area. 

The energy as they left the park was a little more subdued, but happy. Everyone was clearly having a good time, not only because of the lack of disasters, monsters, or other assorted hero business to impinge on the day.

They loaded back up into cars in a slightly different order than they had ridden there in, May ending up in Toby’s passenger seat and her boys, Quentin and Raj, in the backseat together. Over the course of the evening, Raj had not only recovered very nicely from that first experience with a human thrill ride, he had been the one heading up the charge to go on every single one after that. Toby had recognized it as needing to prove that he was much tougher than the rides, but since it wasn’t hurting him or anyone to let him do so, she let it go.

The result was that he was now nearly falling asleep in the backseat--even in winter, getting up at three in the afternoon was rough. Quentin was in much the same state, since he had been keeping up with his friend rather admirably. May was Toby’s main passenger for this ride, Bridget and Chelsea having gone with Cass and Karen for the trip back.

“You sure she wasn’t just tired of your driving advice?” Toby joked.

May snorted. “My advice is great,” she joked. 

Toby realized, as she began to navigate the lighter traffic back to San Francisco proper, that she had spent the first part of the day waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go horribly wrong or some emergency to come up. But the longer the evening had gone on, watching her friends and part of her chosen family around her, even being convinced to go on some of the tamer rides herself (plus the one coaster she would even consider--the wooden one), nothing catastrophic had happened. She had let herself relax, and it seemed the evening would promise more of the same. She just really hoped that would prove to be true. 

After keeping the kids out, effectively, all day, they had a low-key night planned, with popcorn and pizza and movies and, from the smell of it, cookies that Jazz had been baking. May went to the kitchen to give her girlfriend a hello kiss and try and sneak some cookie dough. The second car arrived shortly thereafter. Toby was more grateful than ever for the huge fortune of having parking space in the city. 

The first movie was put on the tv--something animated and colorful, it looked like--and Toby retreated with Bridget to the kitchen. Jazz was just finishing moving a batch of cookies from the cooling rack to a plate for the living room, as May munched on another one. “Disney movie’s on,” Toby told May, who perked up even more, following her girlfriend out for more cookies, and probably cuddles, while it was still early enough for Jazz to be awake.

“Would you like a cup of tea or something?” Toby asked.

“I think that would go lovely with your housemate’s treats.” Bridget moved to help, filling the kettle with water and putting it on the stove while Toby fetched a mug and a box of tea she kept for visitors more than anything else.

The kettle whistled, the tea was made, and cookies eaten once they had cooled enough. Bridget looked at Toby over the edge of her mug, smiling as a laugh from the living room drifted back to them. “I appreciate this, today has been wonderful. For everyone.”

Being fully mortal, Bridget had none of the usual fae compunctions about saying ‘thank you’ drilled into her from a young age. On the other hand, she picked up things incredibly fast, working it into her understanding of the fae world into which she had been pulled--happily, but still. 

Toby smiled back, knowing what she was saying without her having to say it. “I’m just glad everyone has gotten to have a break. Especially the kids. They deserve it.”

There was nothing Bridget could do but nod in agreement. Life was so very rarely calm or fair to any of them, a day like this was a treasure.

It was while they were sitting in the kitchen that the back door opened, and the mingled smells of pizza and pennyroyal--an odd combination to be certain--floated through, presaging Tybalt’s appearance by mere moments. He’d dropped his human disguise on the way in, apparently.

Toby leaped up, delighted, hastily clearing a space on the counter so he could set the pizza boxes down. As soon as he’d done so, he pulled Toby into a thorough hello kiss. “I come bearing sustenance,” he grinned once he’d let her pull away.

“Is this a cat courtship thing where you feed me to show you can provide for me?” Toby asked, half-joking. “Because I could get used to it.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Bridget was smiling at this display, but shook her head. “I’ll let them know the food is on.” And she retreated to the living room.

“Was the ‘theme park’ enjoyable?” Tybalt said the words like it was a mythical land he’d never dream of going to. Ironic, for him. 

Toby grinned, comfortable in his arms. “Very. The kids had a lot of fun. Even the Luidaeg showed up for a bit.”

This was apparently news to him, and he blinked, reconciling the image of the Luidaeg on a roller coaster or some such thing. “She certainly does show up places unexpectedly, doesn’t she?”

“Almost as good as a cat, that way.” She joked, smirking at him. He shook his head and kissed her again as a come back. 

Which was when the thundering hordes invaded--or, rather, a group of hungry, mostly-teenaged fae. Toby and Tybalt both were swept up into the flow of things, happily so.

Soon after, though, Bridget and Chelsea needed to go back to Shadowed Hills, as the both of them were still mostly up and about during the day. That was changing, but slowly. Cass and Karen went too, giving them a ride back to where Bridget had stowed her own car at the Brown’s house. Parking was, after all, much easier than here in the city. 

Soon it was just Toby family, watching some loud, colorful action movie with explosions. May had disappeared soon after pizza, since Jazz was going to bed. Toby and Tybalt claimed most of the couch by themselves, with Quentin holding his own on the other end. Raj was “helping” by sprawling out half on the other arm of the couch and half on Quentin. Quentin, completely used to this behavior, could still reach the popcorn too, and so was apparently content with the situation. 

As the movie went on-something with aliens firing lasers everywhere--first Raj, then eventually Quentin ended up in the small pile of blankets and a pillow or two that had ended up on the floor. Cagney and Lacey, who had been unnerved by the sound of the movie and people at first, had reappeared, nestling themselves into the blanket nest as well. Spike, the rose goblin, seemed content with its place along the back of the couch, totally blase about movies, people, or any other noises of the night.

Tybalt took the opportunity of a free couch to stretch out his legs to the rest of the couch, pillowing his head in Toby’s lap. She was threading her fingers through his black-and-brown tabby striped hair, when she laughed, just loud enough for Tybalt’s keen ears to catch it. He opened his eyes as lazily as any contented cat. “Hm?”

“‘Do you think I meant country matters?’” She quoted, knowing he’d know exactly what play she was quoting, and why. 

He smirked up at her, smile full of smoldering promise. “A fair thought.” 

The boys were either absorbed in the movie or asleep, it wasn’t clear which. Either way they weren't paying any attention to the adults there. Toby rose, and Tybalt followed with a will as she led him upstairs, hand not leaving hers.


	2. Bonus fanart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to give you a little bonus fanart I drew of Toby and Tybalt (since the smutty chapter I have planned up is slower in coming--now pun intended). Just another little treat for you!

**Author's Note:**

> So many fandoms to choose from! I went with fluff, because I love and adore this fandom and Toby and Tybalt and loved getting a chance to give poor Toby a flippin' break, for once. I hope your Yuletide is lovely and bright!


End file.
